RESEARCH NEEDED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 53, 19 March 1946, Page 5

RESEARCH NEEDED

THE CONTROL OF RAGWORT PRESENT METHODS CRITICISED The ever-present problem of ragwort control was discussed at the meeting of Ward No. 6 N.Z. Counties Association held in Whakatane recently when the existing method of dealing with the menace was described as expensive and wasteful, and a recommendation was made that t the whole question be made a matter for intensive research by the Cawthron Institute.

The chairman stated that the Whakatane County Council was ’perturbed at the annual amount being expended by the Government and by farmers in an endeavour to control and check the spread of ragwort. He felt that all counties in the area appreciated the assistance the Crown was giving in providing an .annual grant for expenditure on the eradication and control of ragwort particularly, on Crown and unindividualised Native lands. The present method of control did not attack the ragwort problem at the source, and speaking for the Whakatane County Council there were thousands of acres of ragwort infested Crown and Native lands on river beds in the

headwaters of the Rangitaiki and Whakatane Rivers. The affect of the floods over the last years had shown that these seed beds re-seeded the coastal areas after every flood. The position was a serious one and it was the opinion of the Whakatane County Council that representations should be made to the Government through the Executive that adequate Government funds be made available for an investigation’into the control of ragwort by parasites or otherwise. The result of such investigation might not provide a system of control 100 per cent, efficient, but in all probability some system of control vastly cheaper and more effective than the present method would

result. After a brief discussion the following resolution was carried:—

“That this Ward views with alarm the recurring annual expenditure of property owners and the Department of Agriculture incurred in controlling ragwort, and requests the Counties’ Association Executive to represent to the Government the urgent desirability of the Government’s providing adequate funds for research in conjunction With the Cawthron Institute, in the hope that a parasite or some more efficient and cheaper method of ragwort control will be discovered.”